A banned books reading list for the 56.

Banned books
Written By JD Jordan

Photo and bookmark by JD Jordan.

Most folks I’ve spoken to in East Cobb, Roswell, and Woodstock aren’t aware that our little corner of North Atlanta—state senate district 56—accounts for about half of the challenged and banned books in Georgia.

In honor of Banned Book Week (October 1-7), I’m spending this week highlighting a few of the titles banned right here in the 56. My team and I are also going to start dropping some of our campaign bookmarks in the tri-county area’s Little Free Libraries, so you too can start your own “banned books reading list for the 56.” Shoot me a message or contact me through my social channels if you’re down to help.

Books banned in Cherokee, Cobb, and Fulton schools and libraries.

As the author of Foundation once wrote: “Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.” And if we want to avoid the censored fate of Florida and Texas, we better get started. So, let’s give voice to these titles banned right here in the schools and libraries of the 56:

Sources: AP, PEN America, and WSB
*This book is effectively shadow banned.

Some banned books to get you started.

Flamer by Mike Curato

Flamer by Mike Curato, mockup by Anthony Boyd Graphics, photo by Simone Hutsch on Unsplash.

This past August, Flamer by Mike Curato was removed from 20 school libraries in Cobb after the graphic novel was deemed inappropriate. You know, ‘cause it acknowledges LGBTQ+ teens and relationships (spoiler, it’s vulgar, sure, but not pornographic).

According to Goodreads, this semi-autobiographical graphic novel uses humor, compassion, and love to tell the story of "the summer between middle school and high school, [when] Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone's going through changes—but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can't stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance."

The School Library Journal calls Flamer "an essential book that shows readers that they are never alone in their struggles" and Booklist say Curato's story is "masterfully nuanced and stunningly told, this is visual storytelling at its finest."

Sounds pretty great to me. :)

Homegoing by Yah Gyasi

Homegoing by Yah Gyasi, mockup by Anthony Boyd Graphics, photo by Simone Hutsch on Unsplash.

Probably the most enthusiastically endorsed book that’s been nonetheless challenged in Cherokee County is Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing.

The story of two half-sisters born in Ghana in the mid-1700, Homegoing is, according to Goodreads, “Extraordinary for its exquisite language, its implacable sorrow, its soaring beauty, and for its monumental portrait of the forces that shape families and nations.”

“From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.”

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

I started this week saying, Cherokee and Cobb counties account for half of all book challenges in Georgia. And that's true. What I didn't realize at the time was that Fulton County hates being left out.

When I began researching book bans in Georgia, ALA and PEN America's great reporting on the subject helped me compile a list of books and their challenge details. But these reports—excellent as they are—couldn't have caught Fulton County Schools' recent banning of four titles, including Me And Earl And The Dying Girl (alongside Flamer, which I highlighted Tuesday, Blankets, and Gender Queer).

Me And Earl And The Dying Girl is one of the most challenged books in America and a popular target of groups such as Moms for Liberty because it's "pornographic"—a claim multiple school board solicitors have found to be demonstrably false. I suspect the bigger reason this books is so frequent'y targeted is that author Jesse Andrews cracked the code and beautifully employs authentic teenage slang and snark to share a highly-relatable and thoroughly enjoyable look into the mind of a teen.

And while Me And Earl And The Dying Girl's crude language makes it best suited for older teen readers, School Library Journal recommends it for grades nine and up precisely because the book is so insightful. Kirkus also praised it, saying Andrews “succeeds brilliantly in painting a portrait of a kid whose responses to emotional duress are entirely believable and sympathetic, however fiercely he professes his essential crappiness as a human being.”

As a household that's lived through teenagers AND cancer, this title (or its 2015 film adaptation) seems like a great fit and conversation starter.

My Shadow Is Purple* by Scott Stuart

My Shadow Is Purple by Scott Stuart, mockup by Anthony Boyd Graphics, photo by Simone Hutsch on Unsplash.

Sometimes it doesn’t require a legal challenge to censor a book. Sometimes all it takes is fear.

My Shadow Is Purple is shadow banned in the 56.

This past August, the Cobb County School Board voted along party lines in a 4-3 vote to terminate Katie Rinderle for reading My Shadow Is Purple by Scott Stuart—a heartwarming book about being true to yourself and moving beyond the gender binary—to her fifth-grade class at Due West Elementary. She was fired because, while My Shadow Is Purple isn’t banned in Cobb County, the school board voted that it violates the school’s policy against teaching controversial issues. Controversial issues like inclusivity and acceptance.

In a statement through the Southern Poverty Law Center, Rinderle warned, “The district is sending a harmful message that not all students are worthy of affirmation in being their unapologetic and authentic selves. This decision, based on intentionally vague policies, will result in more teachers self-censoring in fear of not knowing where the invisible line will be drawn. Censorship perpetuates harm and students deserve better.”

Ellie and raised five kiddos with a health diet of inspiring children’s titles—and as the parent of two trans teens, I wish My Shadow Is Purple was available to us when they were little.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, mockup by Anthony Boyd Graphics, photo by Simone Hutsch on Unsplash.

I was asked recently why the book bans matter to me so much. "It's not like anyone's banning classics like To Kill A Mockingbird anymore," they said (spoiler: in NC and Oklahoma, they already have).

"Like The Kite Runner?" I asked?

According to the American Library Association and PEN America, Khaled Hosseini's unforgettable and heartbreaking The Kite Runner is one of the most challenged books in the US. And for a book set during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban, few of the objections are a surprise: offensive language, sexually-explicit material, depictions of homosexuality, religious viewpoints, violence, and the fear that the novel would inspire terrorism and “promote Islam.”

Additionally, some Afghan-American readers have expressed discomfort with the book's portrayal of the Hazara as an oppressed minority, a criticism Hosseini responded to by saying “They never say I am speaking about things that are untrue. Their beef is, Why do you have to talk about these things and embarrass us?”

Great art is often uncomfortable. As are accurate and thought-provoking depictions of the past. But it's through voices such as these, we have the opportunity to grow and make things better.

A few more thoughts on book bans in Georgia.

This past saturday, I had the chance to speak to members of the Cherokee County Democrats about this issue. What follows is a lightly-edited version of the speech I gave at their School Daze Fundraiser Dinner. They’re a wonderful organization—check them out.

Hello, everyone. 

I have a special request to ask everyone or some of you. My wife couldn't be here tonight because she's taking my 16-year-old to homecoming—which I’m pretty grateful she's doing instead of me. But if someone could grab a picture, I'd appreciate sharing it with her. 

Some of you I've met before, some of you I haven't. So real quick, to level the playing field for us all, I'll tell you a little bit about myself. 

I'm a first-time candidate. But I am not a “first-time” lot of other things. I have five children who are awesome and I whom I adore. I have a really good novel on bookshelves which you should read. I'm a serial small-business person. In my industry, I'm what’s called a design unicorn—and I'm happy to tell you what that's all about. Love the term. And I'm a stage three cancer survivor, which I'm less keen to talk about but will talk to anyone about it. Thank you. I just passed my five-year, a few months ago. So, it's very exciting. I'm also—as I hope you're gathering—pretty charming. And I'm running for Georgia State Senate District 56. 

If you don't know what senate district 56 is, I think that's kind of on purpose, right? It's been gerrymandered and it's been rigged—as have other districts—because the only way for our seven-term senator who I like to refer to as “he who shall not be named” to keep his job is for some of us to not know what district we're in. So, just so you know, senate district 56 is East Cobb, Roswell, and Woodstock. A nice little three way pie of Cherokee, Cobb and Fulton counties. 

I think, one of the things that convinced me to run is that I'm dissatisfied about—or, maybe a better word for it is, and maybe you'll share it with me—I'm angry about our state government’s intrusions into our bodies, right? Into our homes, our families, our doctor's offices, our kids’ classrooms and their libraries, and even in their polling places, right? These are not places where I feel like administrators or legislators should be making decisions for us. We have experts for these things. 

And I'd like to point out, if you haven't noticed my stylish Bitter Southerner t-shirt, that next week is banned book week. And about half of the book challenges in Georgia to date have come from the 56, from Cobb County and Cherokee in particular. 

If you look at the fancy business card which is also a bookmark that's on your table, you'll see a list of the books that Cherokee and Cobb contributed to George's book bans. 

For my part, I'm about to start reading Homegoing, which someone recommended to me on Friday as very good. I haven’t read it before. And my 18-year-old daughter and I are about to start reading Flamer which just got banned in Cobb County. And I get angry about these book bans because I take parenting very seriously. I suspect most of the people in this room with children take parenting very seriously. And I don't think it's anyone else's job to tell me which books my kids and I get to read. That's a conversation I get to have with them. And that's a conversation their teachers should have with them. 

Actually, if you come up and see me afterward, I hope you’ll see I'm wearing my Shining shoes, because The Shining got me through those first few weeks of Covid. And my kids? One of them is reading Stephen King at a Fulton County Middle School right now. And I'm sure someone's going to challenge it. 

And they should, shouldn’t they, based on the books they’ve targeted so far? I don't think that's right. I don't think that's fair. And I think if we're not very careful, we're going to end up like Tennessee, like Florida, like Texas. Where you have empty classrooms because teachers are afraid to share books or else they might get fired as recently happened in Cobb County. Or where libraries have been gutted and turned into detention centers as has happened in Houston. We don't want that here. 

So my ask for you guys today is three things. Well, there's actually a bonus thing at the end … but three things:

One, if you haven't met me before, or if you haven't met me as often as you'd like, come find me. Let's chat. If we don't get to hook up today, my contact info is on the card. Let's do a coffee or a zoom or a phone call. Whatever you need, because,

Two, we’re at a fundraiser, aren’t we? It takes a lot of money to run a campaign and my opponent already has a quarter million in the bank. Right, I know‽ So, any help would be appreciated. 

Three, which is actually the one I'm most passionate about, is if you like me and if you like some of the things I'm saying, I would like to meet your friends. Especially if they live in the 56. But not exclusively, this is a statewide office, after all. So, let's share the link around, let's do a meet and greet, whatever you want to do. I'd love to meet more people here in the district. 

Oh, and that fourth one? This is the trick, right? So I asked some of you at the beginning to take a picture if you had the chance. Because it's true: My wife is on her way to Centennial homecoming right now. And if you could text your picture to the phone number on the card, I would love to share it with her. And I promise this doesn't sign you up for anything. This is just me selfishly getting a photo. 

Thank you so much. I’ve really loved meeting everyone in the Cherokee Dems so far. I'm sure I'm gonna continue to love it and I hope you guys will support me as we roll into next year and try to flip the 56 blue.

Thank you.

JD JORDAN FOR GEORGIA STATE SENATE DISTRICT 56

For anyone in East Cobb, Roswell, or Woodstock alarmed by the state’s escalating attacks on our bodies, our families, our doctors’ offices, our classrooms and libraries, even our polling places, I’m running for state senate district 56 to fight for our freedoms and to deliver a better future for everyone in Georgia.

And unlike my opponent who’s spent 14 years rolling back our freedoms, failing to safeguard our kids, and gerrymandered his district to stay in office, I promise to bring everyone in the 56—regardless of ideology—the best possible constituent experience so you feel heard, valued, and supported. As we all deserve to be.

I’m running for the 56. Let’s make a better Georgia for all of us.

—

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT
Jordan For Georgia, LLC
10800 Alpharetta Hwy Ste 208 #629
Roswell, GA 30076-1467

jdjordan@forthe56.com
706.804.0456

JD Jordan

Awesome dad, killer novelist, design executive, and cancer survivor. Also, charming AF.

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